Water Tank Sterilisation

not so grey nomads · Veteran Member

Water Tank Sterilisation

Dougwe · Chief one feather

I use a bottle of Milton baby bottle cleaner. Emtpy into tank,fill up with water,drive around for a while then drain. You can rinse but I find no real need.

Get from supermarket in baby section.

If it's good for baby, it's good for me.

Yuglamron · Guru

That reminds me to do mine too. Like Dougwe says if it's good enough for Baby it good enough for me.

I also use the recommended dose of this stuff. Basically Coloidal Siver. Kills a lot of stuff and having used it for ten years + in my tanks have never had any Gastro problems with my water.

https://www.biomagic.com.au/waterpure/

Whenarewethere · Guru

Except melamine in baby milk!

Mike Harding · Guru

Milton is excellent for purifying water but NOT a whole 1L bottle!

In order to purify clear water add Milton at the rate of 0.5mL/1L - the water is then drinkable.

For a first time tank clean you may, perhaps, double that to 1mL/1L or 100mL Milton to a 100L water tank. Ideally drive the caravan a few kilometres to mix everything up then leave for two hours then drain and refill with fresh. A rinse should not be necessary but will do no harm.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

I use sodium hypochlorite (common household bleach) at the rate of 10ml/100L of water and leave it in the tank every fill. Buy cheap stuff without additives.
Or liquid pool chlorine (double the strength, so half the add rate).
Cheap and readily available & provides on gong protection.
Cheers,
Peter

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Sterilising an unknown tank etc or adding to existing good potable water is two different things . To sterilise a tank it takes a strong chlorine compared to adding to water .

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Aus-Kiwi wrote:
Sterilising an unknown tank etc or adding to existing good potable water is two different things . To sterilise a tank it takes a strong chlorine compared to adding to water .

Why? This is a NEW tank.

Cheers,

Peter

jontee · Veteran Member

G`day,
A tablespoon of household bleach ( domestos ) or similar then fill tank . Leave for a day and then empty and refill .
Cheers,
Jontee .

Mike Harding · Guru

*Don't* use Domestos!

Or indeed the vast majority, if not all of the bleaches you find on supermarket shelves - almost all have additives to prolong their shelf life and/or make them smell nice and God knows for what else.

You need a bleach which contains *only* sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide.

Milton is such a bleach at 1% concentration of sodium hypochlorite. Milton has been used for cleaning baby's feeding bottles for 100+ years, it is safe. We do not clean baby's bottles in Domestos. The process I outlined above is approved and recommended by both the WHO and the CDC for the purification of suspect water. I really do wish people would do their research before posting "solutions".

PS. Milton has a shelf life of around 18 months, the "use before" date is printed on the container - do not used expired product, it won't work but you won't know.

Rob Driver · Guru

not so grey nomads wrote:
My manual says to sterilize the water tank in my new van but not tell me what to use. Any sugestions

Good morning,

We have adopted a slightly different approach to water tank sanitation (as opposed to Sterilisation ). Sterilisation is an entirely different process but we do not need to go into that for the purpose of answering your question.

Our history is that we have a daughter who has suffered for most of her life from bouts of asthma. We moved from a home on town water when she was about 11 years old onto a property where the water supply was mainly rainwater. We noticed that shortly after moving her asthma condition improved so much that she no longer needed her puffer.

Initially we werent aware that her condition was caused by chlorinated water but we soon could prove it after our doctor suggested that it could be the cause. We used town water again for a short term and her condition once again became worse.

Since this discovery we avoid using chlorinated water for drinking or cooking.

When we got our van the dealer said to just flush the tank with chlorine to sanitise it. For obvious reasons I was not keen on using chlorine so we spoke to an aquaintance that worked in the Dairy Industry. He suggested that dairies do no t use chlorine at all but achieve sanitation with the use of an acid product.

Armed with this information I did some research and soon found that cleaning and sanitation in many food based industries were using similar acid products. I did more research and found a couple of products that were used in the Dairy Industry but these products were supplied in huge drums of 20 litres plus and the cost for us was prohibitive as well as one drum would last 3 lifetimes.

I then found a product that is used in Breweries and it is called STARSAN.

It is a sanitiser based on phosphoric acid that when mixed at the correct rate there is no need to rinse the vessel or equipment.

STARSAN comes in small bottles for use at the home brewing level, with a measure for decanting and its ratio to water is 1.5 ml per litre which is very economical.

At this rate it can be left in the tank and is safe for drinking.

There is another product from the same manufacturer called SANICLEAN and it is made more for cleaning tanks and equipment and if mixed stronger it will need to be rinsed.

I have both STARSAN and SANICLEAN and I use the STARSAN for our water tanks and the SANICLEAN is absolutely excellent for removing odours and killing germs in van plumbing by just mixing some in a plastic jug and pouring it down the sink and shower. I also pour it down the washing machine outlet pipe that the discharge hose is pushed into in the cupboard of the van as sometimes we get a stale smell from there as well.

When our grey water tank becomes a bit mankey or we are storing the van for a while I mix a solution of Nappysan in a bucket and tip it in the drain and let it slosh around on the way home and once home my husband drains the grey water tank and we refill it with SANICLEAN and leave it until we are setting off again. It is then just a matter of draining it and using it as normal.

Just getting back to my daughter, she used STARSAN in the place of Milton to sanitise the equipment for her babies and she found other uses such as sanitising the baby toys just by soaking them for a short while in the product.

These products can be bought from many home brew stores or you may find them cheaper on eBay but be aware that there are others who are making copies which are reportedly in some circles to not work as well.

We bought our last lot from this supplier

https://www.craftbrewer.com.au/cleaners-sanitisers

We we have nothing to do with this supplier or the products apart from purchasing the products for our use.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Chlorine (sodium hypochlorite) breaks down naturally quite quickly, but an active carbon filter will remove any left in the water.
Cheers,
Peter

Rob Driver · Guru

Hi Peter n Margaret

Yes you are correct, chlorine does break down quite readily, even quicker when exposed to sunlight as in a swimming pool for example.

It is unfortunate that human nature being what it is, people, quit often, believe that more is better and for this reason most treatments and mixture ratios are prepared too strong.

As has been indicated most just rely on a splash of this and a dash of that.
If filling tanks from a reliable source then there is no need to add anything if the water is to be used fairly quickly.

Dickodownunder · Guru

bentaxlebabe wrote:
not so grey nomads wrote:
My manual says to sterilize the water tank in my new van but not tell me what to use. Any sugestions
Good morning,
We have adopted a slightly different approach to water tank sanitation (as opposed to Sterilisation ). Sterilisation is an entirely different process but we do not need to go into that for the purpose of answering your question.
Our history is that we have a daughter who has suffered for most of her life from bouts of asthma. We moved from a home on town water when she was about 11 years old onto a property where the water supply was mainly rainwater. We noticed that shortly after moving her asthma condition improved so much that she no longer needed her puffer.
Initially we werent aware that her condition was caused by chlorinated water but we soon could prove it after our doctor suggested that it could be the cause. We used town water again for a short term and her condition once again became worse.
Since this discovery we avoid using chlorinated water for drinking or cooking.
When we got our van the dealer said to just flush the tank with chlorine to sanitise it. For obvious reasons I was not keen on using chlorine so we spoke to an aquaintance that worked in the Dairy Industry. He suggested that dairies do no t use chlorine at all but achieve sanitation with the use of an acid product.
Armed with this information I did some research and soon found that cleaning and sanitation in many food based industries were using similar acid products. I did more research and found a couple of products that were used in the Dairy Industry but these products were supplied in huge drums of 20 litres plus and the cost for us was prohibitive as well as one drum would last 3 lifetimes.
I then found a product that is used in Breweries and it is called STARSAN.
It is a sanitiser based on phosphoric acid that when mixed at the correct rate there is no need to rinse the vessel or equipment.
STARSAN comes in small bottles for use at the home brewing level, with a measure for decanting and its ratio to water is 1.5 ml per litre which is very economical.
At this rate it can be left in the tank and is safe for drinking.
There is another product from the same manufacturer called SANICLEAN and it is made more for cleaning tanks and equipment and if mixed stronger it will need to be rinsed.
I have both STARSAN and SANICLEAN and I use the STARSAN for our water tanks and the SANICLEAN is absolutely excellent for removing odours and killing germs in van plumbing by just mixing some in a plastic jug and pouring it down the sink and shower. I also pour it down the washing machine outlet pipe that the discharge hose is pushed into in the cupboard of the van as sometimes we get a stale smell from there as well.
When our grey water tank becomes a bit mankey or we are storing the van for a while I mix a solution of Nappysan in a bucket and tip it in the drain and let it slosh around on the way home and once home my husband drains the grey water tank and we refill it with SANICLEAN and leave it until we are setting off again. It is then just a matter of draining it and using it as normal.
Just getting back to my daughter, she used STARSAN in the place of Milton to sanitise the equipment for her babies and she found other uses such as sanitising the baby toys just by soaking them for a short while in the product.
These products can be bought from many home brew stores or you may find them cheaper on eBay but be aware that there are others who are making copies which are reportedly in some circles to not work as well.
We bought our last lot from this supplier
https://www.craftbrewer.com.au/cleaners-sanitisers

We we have nothing to do with this supplier or the products apart from purchasing the products for our use.

Wow, great post and information BaB,

I am going to order some of that product and give it a go.

We get a smell at times from the washing machine discharge and sometimes even from the drains.

We have tried chlorine in the past but is only a very temporary fix.

I have never been keen to put chlorine in our drinking water.

For what it is worth I will report back after I try it.

Thank you,